Director of Public Prosecutions v Matthews
[2024] VSC 204
•30 April 2024
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
S ECR 2023 0317
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| JAMES WILLIAM MATTHEWS |
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JUDGE: | HOLLINGWORTH J |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 30 April 2024 |
DATE OF REASONS: | 30 April 2024 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Matthews |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2024] VSC 204 |
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CRIMINAL LAW – Murder – Consent mental impairment – Accused found not guilty by reason of mental impairment.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms C Parkes | Ms A Hogan, Solicitor for Public Prosecutions |
| For Mr Matthews | Mr J Anderson | Slades & Parsons |
HER HONOUR:
On 7 April 2022, James Matthews killed his father, William Matthews (who was known to his friends as Bill). I will refer to family members by their first names, to avoid confusion.
At the time of his death, Bill was 78 years old. He had been suffering from a terminal form of cancer for many years, and was undergoing chemotherapy.
At the time, James was living with Bill at Bill’s home in Scoresby. Bill was divorced from James’ mother, Cheryl, but they remained on good terms and in regular contact. James spoke to his mother daily, and had a close relationship with Bill.
James had been released from prison about six weeks before the offence. Although he initially continued to take his prescription antipsychotic medications, he stopped taking them a few weeks before the incident. A few days before the incident, he started using methamphetamine (“ice”) and cannabis, and did not come home for several days.
On 7 April 2022, James drove to his mother’s home around 8:30am. He appeared drug affected, his behaviour was erratic, and he was saying things that did not make sense. He stayed for about ten minutes, then left.
Around 3:30pm that day, Bill arrived at Cheryl’s house, to help her pick up her car from the Victoria Police Impound Yard. During the drive to the yard, Cheryl told Bill that James had come to see her that morning, and she did not think that he was doing very well mentally. Bill returned to his home around 6pm.
Bill and James were home together all evening. At 10:23pm, Bill called Cheryl on his mobile phone and asked her to speak to James. When James spoke to her, he referred to the “Illuminati” and said “I’m a high level priestess of the Freemasons.” Cheryl told him these things were not real, and she did not want to talk about them. She ended the call after a couple of minutes because he wasn’t making sense.
Bill’s phone rang Cheryl’s phone a few further times, but she did not answer as she assumed it was James calling.
Around 10:27pm, Cheryl called the local area’s mental health service, to get assistance for James. They did not answer. She called them again about 20 minutes later. Again, they did not answer, so she left them a message asking them to call her back.
At 11:06pm, Cheryl called the police and told them she had concerns about James’ behaviour. She told them what had occurred that morning and evening, and said she had concerns about James because he was rambling and not making sense.
At 11:20pm, Bill called Cheryl and left her a voice message. He told her James was not doing well. He said “I don’t know what he wants” and “You’ve gone to bed so I’ll just have a talk to him.” Cheryl called Bill back at 11:22pm, but he did not answer.
At an unknown time after 11:20pm, James physically assaulted Bill, inflicting fatal injuries to his head, face and neck.
At 11:37pm, police arrived at Bill’s house to conduct a welfare check on James. They could hear noise coming from a television, and saw someone moving around inside the house through the front bedroom window.
After not getting a response to their knocks on the front door, the police walked around to the back of the property. The blind was down, but they saw a light on inside James’ bedroom. A short time later, they looked again at the bedroom window and saw that the light had been turned off.
The police rang Bill’s number, but he did not answer his phone. They then called Cheryl, and asked her to try to call Bill.
At 12:02am, police knocked loudly on the glass of James’ bedroom window. They called out his name and said they were there to check he was okay. James asked them to give him a minute. Police then heard the sounds of six or seven thuds in quick succession, which they believed was the sound of something being hit or punched.
Police spoke to Cheryl again on the phone. She said she had called Bill, but his phone was going directly to voicemail.
Police eventually climbed into James’ bedroom through the window. They found Bill lying on the bed with his face and head covered in blood. They could not find any signs of life, and paramedics later pronounced Bill dead at the scene.
The police called out to James. He ran out of the bedroom and hid in the laundry. Around 3:20am, after unsuccessfully attempting to persuade James to come out of the laundry, Critical Incident Response Team members entered the laundry and arrested him.
Later that morning, James was found to be unfit for interview; he was aggressive, incoherent and drug affected. He was charged with murdering his father and remanded in custody.
The defence did not dispute that James performed the acts alleged by the prosecution, but said that he was mentally impaired at the time of offending. They relied upon a report prepared by forensic psychiatrist, Dr Jacqueline Rakov, dated 21 July 2023, in support of that position.
The prosecution subsequently arranged for James to be assessed by forensic psychiatrist, Associate Professor Danny Sullivan. In his report, dated 11 November 2023, Associate Professor Sullivan came to a similar conclusion as Dr Rakov in relation to James’ mental impairment at the time of the offending.
There is no dispute between the experts or the parties that James currently suffers from schizoaffective disorder, severe substance abuse disorder, and antisocial personality disorder, and was suffering from those disorders when he killed his father.
James is now 32 years old. He has a long history of various mental health diagnoses, including Aspergers syndrome, ADHD, depression, antisocial personality disorder, bipolar affective disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. He also has used drugs throughout his life, and has a history of substance use disorder.
James grew up as an only child. He was first diagnosed with ADHD when he was in kindergarten. He had significant behavioural and learning difficulties throughout his childhood and adolescence. He involuntarily moved schools many times, and attended specialist schools, due to his disruptive behaviours. He eventually completed a year 12 certificate. He has very little employment history.
James started using cannabis as a teenager. He has been a daily user of ice and GHB since his early twenties. He has tried various other illicit drugs over the years. It seems that James has historically used drugs to “self-medicate.”
James has undergone numerous psychiatric assessments in the community and whilst in custody in relation to other offending. His past interactions with psychiatric services are discussed in the expert reports, and it is not necessary to reproduce them in detail here.
James’ mental health started to seriously deteriorate about three or four years ago. In February 2021, prison staff expressed concerns about his declining mental health. Over the next few months, he was observed acting strangely, and was later described as acutely psychotic.
In April 2021, James had several active intervention orders against him. Corrections staff noted that he displayed assaultive behaviour in custody, and reports suggested he was mentally unwell.
In May 2021, he was transferred from prison to Thomas Embling Hospital with an acute psychotic episode. He then spent ten days in an inpatient unit at Maroondah Hospital, where he was subject to compulsory treatment. He was diagnosed with first-episode psychosis and bipolar affective disorder. After his release from prison, he was prescribed psychiatric medications, and referred to a community care team.
In October 2021, he was acutely psychotic. He believed he could smell gas in his cell, and was talking to himself. He referred to themes of Freemasonry and the Illuminati, and said it was his job to save the world and look after his parents.
James was released from prison in February 2022. Upon release, he did not take his medication for three to four weeks. He resumed his medications for a period, but then stopped taking them again two weeks before this offending.
After he was taken into custody, he experienced manic-type symptoms and auditory hallucinations, and ruminated on delusional themes. He was prescribed mood-stabilisers and anti-psychotic medications, which assisted him to go into remission; his mental health improved for a period of time.
In August 2023, his mental health deteriorated again, and he was admitted to Thomas Embling Hospital on a Security Treatment Order, following a period in which he refused to take medication. He was experiencing bizarre auditory hallucinations. He had poor insight into his mental illness, claiming that evil came out of his body when he took his medication. He received a discharge diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder with psychotic symptoms, and was prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
In Dr Rakov’s opinion, at the time of the offending, James experienced a severe psychotic episode, characterised by hallucinations, delusions and disorganised thinking. Those psychotic symptoms severely impaired his understanding of reality. Dr Rakov did not believe that his psychosis was drug- induced, and noted that he had later relapsed into psychosis whilst in custody and drug free.
Associate Professor Sullivan expressed similar opinions about James’ psychotic symptoms at the time of the offending. He noted that James heard voices that he interpreted as divine messages. He also addressed the issue of what role substance use may have played in precipitating the psychotic symptoms. He concluded that it was likely that James’ offending reflected a relapse of psychosis through his unilateral cessation of antipsychotic medication, which was influenced by his substance abuse. However, he did not believe that James was acting only in a drug-induced state.
Both experts were of the view that James’ perception of reality was severely impaired at the time he committed the offence, and were satisfied that the defence of mental impairment was or may be available to him.
On 30 April 2024, a hearing was held to consider the issue of mental impairment. Because both the prosecution and the defence agreed that the expert evidence established a defence of mental impairment, s 21(4) of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (“the Act”) allowed the evidence to be heard by judge alone.
At the conclusion of the hearing on 30 April 2024, I was satisfied that the evidence established the defence of mental impairment under s 20(1)(b) of the Act, in that James was suffering from a mental impairment at the time of committing the offence, the effect of which was that he could not reason with a moderate degree of sense and composure about whether his conduct, as perceived by reasonable people, was wrong.
I directed that a verdict of not guilty because of mental impairment be recorded, and declared James liable to supervision under Part 5 of the Act. James was remanded in custody in prison, pending the preparation of the further report required by s 41(1) of the Act, and the provision of a certificate of available services under s 47 of the Act.
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